Tag Info

Islam isn't, nor has it been considered a Christian sect, either by Muslims, or by Christians. An article here argues that Islam is a Christian Heresy: Belloc states "It began as a heresy, not as a new religion....It was a perversion of the Christian religion...an adaptation and a misuse of the Christian thing." But there is a distinction to be ...

A famous quote from Christian history is: "In Essentials Unity, In Non-Essentials Liberty, In All Things Charity" In Essentials Unity The Apostle Paul talks about "another gospel" that was being preached to the Galatians, and he uses very strong words regarding those who bring such a gospel: 6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who ...

Heresy (αἵρεσις) means "choice," and "a heretic is one who chooses what he wants according to his own ideas and opinions, selecting certain parts of the Christian Tradition while rejecting others" (OCA). Some additional insight from this article: By his actions, a heretic not only destroys the fullness of the Christian truth but also divides the life ...

Gnosticism was a movement that sprung up as an attempt to fill a major knowledge vacuum in the Scriptural record. The Gospels record that even the Apostles, Jesus's highest and most trusted disciples, were spiritually weak and deemed by the Lord as unready for the true doctrines of the Kingdom. For example, witness Peter, who boasted of his fearlessness ...

She was burned by the English clergy who denied her appeal to the Pope near the end of the Hundred Years War and she was cleared of all charges only 30 years after her death (even though it took almost 500 years to canonize her). And yeah, there's been extensive research and analysis of what happened. The trial and the aftermath is all amazingly well ...

1 John is really the 'discernment' Epistle showing many ways that false teachers can be identified. The main thing is to look at the life and doctrine of a teacher to ensure they stick to the basic Christ centred ideas and life of love. The basic rules are: False teachers do not love Christians and they live in wickedness. Real Christians know how sinful ...

To answer this, one must first define what Arianism is. Any denomination which holds that Jesus Christ is a subordinate entity to God. He is not one with the Father. Christ is not truly divine but a created being can be considered as 'Arian'. In Arius's words, "there was [a time] when he (the Son) was not." Holy Arian Catholic and Apostolic Church in claims ...

There are two different ways to look at this question. On the one hand, outside of the Church there is no salvation (known in Latin as "extra ecclesiam nulla salus", that is an opinion that has been ratified through Council and Creed and it is still true). On the other hand the teachings related to "Baptism of desire/Baptism of blood" muddies the waters ...

According to this article (and I'm not expert enough to verify the reliability) the answer seems to be "not any more." A Summary and Some Resources The doctrine of universal salvation (also known as Apokatastasis or Apocatastasis) has usually been considered through the centuries to be heterodox but has become orthodox. It was maintained by the ...

A heresy just means that a view is not the "orthodox" view, orthodox coming from Greek ortho-, "right" + Greek doxa, "opinion" (from dokein, to think; see dek- in Indo-European roots). Orthodoxy is then simply a right opinion. A heresy is a choosing of a faction that is not the majority opinion. As others have pointed out, what makes for a "right opinion" ...

Depending on how strictly you define Donatism (sacraments and their efficacy aren't a "given" for most modern movements), it could be argued that many historical movements have been (and are) Donatist when they create a class of Christians who are superior to others and denounce others as non-believers because they are not as devoted. Some have argued that ...

I was trying to explain these two Christological concepts to an unsaved friend of mine, and he said, "Oh, so you're talking about the opposite of demon-possession - that Jesus the man was simply possessed by God." Stripping that analogy down to its essentials, I think he may be on to something. If Jesus only had one "energy" or one will, then Jesus is ...

The Conclavists all believe that. A fundamental tenet is that as the entirety of the College of Cardinals has fallen into either material or formal heresy, they are no longer capable of electing a successor to the Pope. I think that belief fits Donatism very clearly. While I will definitely say that there are others I've encountered (radical Charismatics ...

Narnian's write up is quite well done, but to try and distill it down a bit, the core issue is criticality of belief, typically in Christian circles this revolves around salvation and the nature of the trinity is considered by most to be critical to the nature of salvation. Effectively, a Christian would believe someone to be a heretic if what they say is ...

It is "just wrong". It simply means "you are wrong (according to what we accept as Truth) so you can't call yourself (be in communion with) one of us". And yes, believing in predestination of salvation does make you a heretic in the eyes of the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Protestant traditions are sometimes a little more flexible and forgiving when ...

Islam has never been known to have been considered as a sect of Christianity. St John of Damascus neither considers Islam to be a sect nor a separate religion; rather he plainly refers to Islam as a Christian heresy in his writing “the heresy of the Ishmaelites”. His assessment would be most pertinent to consider, as St. John of Damascus is from ...

Yes, there were some people who considered Islam as a christian sect. Most notably saint John of Damascus, who calls Islam 'the heresy of Ishmaelites'. See also this thesis: John Damascene in Context (pdf). Today however I haven't seen any scholar that would think that classifying Islam as a christian sect is good.

I don't see why this should be complicated. Isaiah 43:11 I, even I, am YHVH, and there is no savior beside Me. Compare Isa. 45:21 and Hos. 13:4. Also, in Psalms 49, David wrote, 7 A man certainly shall not redeem his brother, nor give his ransom to God. 7 אָח לֹא־פָדֹה יִפְדֶּה אִישׁ לֹא־יִתֵּן לֵאלֹהִים כָּפְרוֹ 15 But God shall redeem ...

The Catholic Church used to define heresy as a rejection of any point of dogma. Heretic – a baptized person who rejects a dogma of the Catholic Church. Heretics are automatically excommunicated from the Church (ipso facto) without any declaration for rejecting an authoritative teaching of the Faith. Pope Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum (# 9), June 29, ...

I think that one can define heresy as, "voluntarily chosen teaching contrary to orthodoxy". However the question "what is orthodoxy?" and "how to find what is orthodoxy?" will be answered differently by various christians. Orthodox Christians believe there is an immutable orthodoxy that lives in Church, but there is no sole institution that is a protector ...

"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of antichrist, of ...

I'm no defender of the Roman Church, but if the Church is identified with Israel (which it is, the New Israel) it follows that it will be the one who kills the prophets, and then afterwards repents. I don't know how the Roman Church explains it given the particular theology surrounding the papacy, but in general the persons in the church from layman to ...

Gnosticism was born out of an idea that secret knowledge will grant you some form of salvation, which in some ways can sound like how some Christians view the necessity of hearing of Jesus. However, the better question might be of what are they saved from? Classically Christianity has taught that humanity needs to be saved from its own hubris, oncoming ...

Perhaps the defining characteristic of gnosticism is the belief that salvation is attained through the realisation of gnosis, which Wikipedia defines as "esoteric or intuitive knowledge". This is at odds with much of Christianity, which teaches that salvation is attained by faith (or, in some cases by faith and works, where works might be a ritual such as ...